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So, How Well Does Darksiders II On Wii U Actually Run?
Let’s say you don’t yet own Darksiders II, do own a Wii U, and are considering picking the game up for your new console. How’s it shape up against the versions that have been out on the market on competing platforms for a few months now? Like most other games, it’s not really a clear-cut…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 10, 2012 -
Tons of Classic PC Games Have Had Their Multiplayer Modes Silently Killed Off
In August, mobile giants GLU Mobile bought Gamespy, which you may know as a gaming news site but which has mostly served lately as a multiplayer gaming hub for older titles. Well, GLU haven’t taken long to start making an impression, quietly and without warning shutting down the multiplayer servers for games like Star Wars:…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 10, 2012 -
Meet The Chinese Workers Building Your Cheap Christmas Toys
Photographer Michael Wolf took these shots back in 2006, showing some Chinese toy factories responsible for the kind of cheap plastic crap that lines store shelves and Christmas stockings all over the world. If you thought most of the work on that toy car or Disney figure you’re giving away was done by robots, you…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 10, 2012 -
How League of Legends Handles Over 4 Terabytes of Data Every Single Day
When you have over 12 million people playing your game every single day, a lot of data is getting moved around. How much? In League of Legends’ case, over 4 terabytes worth In a 24-hour period, the game’s servers have to deal with “500 GB of structured data and over four TB of operational logs”,…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
This Last Of Us Trailer Actually Has The Naughty Words In It
The fancy new Last of Us trailer that debuted at the Spike VGAs last week was, by virtue of its delivery method, censored. So here’s an uncensored version. And here’s some details on preorder DLC, if you’re the type to succumb to those vile temptations. Below? The game’s box art.
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
So Much Awesome Zelda Cosplay. So, So Much.
Welcome to The Legend of Zelda: Fancy Pants, where of the nine images we’re highlighting today in our weekly cosplay roundup, four of them are from Nintendo’s classic series. One is contemporary Link. None are Zelda. They’ve used their imagination a little more, and come up with great results. Franchise adherence aside, it’s nice to…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
What a “Next Gen” RPG Could Look Like
This video, courtesy of Czech developers Warhorse (currently working on a historical RPG), shows some of the game’s assets running as an example of “next gen” graphics. While they’re quick to point out this isn’t an actual scene from the game, which is open-world and still without a name, the fact it’s sharing assets and…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
San Andreas Looks Like It’s Coming To The PS3 [Update]
No doubt as savvy marketing in advance of the Grand Theft Auto V, it looks like Rockstar will be re-releasing San Andreas on the PS3. A listing for the game has turned up on Hong Kong’s official PlayStation site, saying it’ll be out on Wednesday. Sadly/interestingly, it’s only listed as having a single player, which…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
Only One Man Can Tweet More Than Hideo Kojima… His Swedish Alter-Ego
Mysterious Metal Gear game The Phantom Pain was the star of last week’s Spike VGAs. The Twitter account of its “Head CEO” Joakim N. Mogren, complete with wonderfully photoshopped Kojima head, is the star of your Monday. I’ve got no idea if this is an official joke account or just a joke account, but given…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
The Next Assassin’s Creed Game Will Be Set In… Brazil?
Ubisoft Brazil managing director Bertrand Chaverot has reportedly told local site TechTudo that the next game in the publisher’s blockbuster series will be taking place in the South American nation. That’s about all he says, with no further details, but GameSpot says they’ve verified the translation, which is interesting. You’ve got to wonder whether he…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 9, 2012 -
BioShock Infinite‘s Box Art is for ‘Frat Guys’ or ‘People who Aren’t Informed’
I’ll be straight up, and praise Ken Levine—the auteur of Irrational Games—for being honest, at the same time I jape at his justification for the generic bro-shooter motif of BioShock Infinite‘s chin-down-eyes-up cover. Bottom line, says Levine, this cover ain’t for us. ‘Us’ being those who put more care into buying a video game than…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
A Game Every Year, but Never a Game of the Year
The Video Game Awards celebrated 10 years of giving out hardware on Friday. Bet you didn’t know, or at least you forgot, who was the first winner of its Game of the Year award. Madden Specifically, Madden NFL 2004—yes, the one with Michael Vick on the cover. It was a different time, for sure, but…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
Start Kicking Ass 6/10ths of a Second Faster when Street Fighter X Tekken‘s “Version 2013” Arrives
OMFG, you guys are not going to believe what Street Fighter X Tekken has in store for you with its 2013 Version. New characters? Alternate costumes? A bunch of shit already locked on the disc? Nope, nope, and nope. Get ready because you will be able to initiate unobscured combat 0.666666666667 seconds faster once the…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
Don’t Like the Winners from the 2012 VGAs? Get a Second Opinion from Machinima’s IGAs.
The gang from 343 Industries, BioWare and Telltale Games stuck around in Los Angeles a second night to take home more honors, as Machinima’s fourth Inside Gaming Awards handed out its hardware on Saturday, a day after the Video Game Awards. Halo 4 was a more traditional game-of-the-year pick, though The Walking Dead did cop…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
Ars Technica compiled a list of eight overrated games. On it: Halo, Gears of War, Super Meat Boy
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: VGA Presto Magix
Cleaning out our work folder I found a bunch of goofy caps from the 2012 Spike VGAs. They weren’t really all that good to post on their own, but they did look like decent exploitables for our latest ‘Shop Contest. So here we go. Remember the Presto Magix? Well, maybe if you’re not pushing 40…
By Owen Good Published December 9, 2012 -
Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Chin Down, Eyes Up: The Winners
I feel like we were just talking about BioShock Infinite‘s boring box art. Weren’t we talking about its bad box art? We were. So I put the subject to our corps of ‘Shop artists and asked them to come up with something a little more inspired, while still adhering to the chin-down/eyes-up motif demanded of…
By Owen Good Published December 8, 2012 -
Pat Tillman Returns to the Field, in Madden NFL 13
Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals standout defensive back who forsook a $3 million contract to enlist in the Army in 2002, and who was killed by friendly fire in an operation in Afghanistan, returns to the football field as a special offering within Madden NFL 13‘s Ultimate Team mode. Tillman’s appearance in the game is…
By Owen Good Published December 8, 2012